Action Against Hunger is currently responding in two of Somalia’s most affected regions, Bakool and Benadir, where our programs to date have focused on (1) the provision of therapeutic treatment and medical care for acutely malnourished children, (2) general nutritional support for children under five years of age, and (3) emergency access to food, clean water, and improved sanitation for the most vulnerable.

Nutrition: Inpatient & Outpatient Therapeutic Care

With skyrocketing rates of deadly acute malnutrition, Action Against Hunger has prioritized the provision of lifesaving therapeutic treatment for some 10,000 children diagnosed with deadly severe acute malnutrition—through a network of 16 outpatient treatment centers—while building capacity to treat 20,000 children.

The scale of this humanitarian catastrophe can be seen daily as families continue to flood into ACF’s emergency nutrition centers: the numbers of acutely malnourished children admitted for therapeutic nutritional care have jumped from an already high 1,600 cases in May, to 2,079 cases in June, and more than 2,500 in the month of July—evidence that the severity of this crisis is far from subsiding.

Our therapeutic nutrition programs have incorporated medical care components, as there are few health centers in the region, with a special focus on mother-and-child health care and expanded immunization programs.

Our teams are setting up treatment programs for some 12,000 children diagnosed with moderate acute malnutrition, providing general nutritional support for children under five years of age to prevent them from reaching the life-threatening stages of severe acute malnutrition.

As one of the few operational NGOs in the regions of Bakool and Benadir, Action Against Hunger has begun carrying out food distributions to ensure that families have access to basic survival rations.

Water, Sanitation & Hygiene

With severe drought-like conditions, and significant numbers of displaced individuals arriving in makeshift camps, access to clean drinking water and improved sanitation is crucial during large-scale humanitarian emergencies.

ACF’s water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions include the following:

The rehabilitation of 25 wells in Wajid (Bakool) to ensure better access to safe water for 7,500 people and their livestock.

Emergency treatment of water sources in Mogadishu (Benadir): the chlorination of 326 water points, along with hygiene promotion, and the distribution of hygiene kits (jerry cans for transporting water, mosquito nets, soap, cups, etc., for 5,500 households.

Sanitation activities focused the growing risk of outbreaks of waterborne diseases (from high concentrations of people in displacement camps, and the lack of sanitation facilities), including the construction of 250 emergency latrines through the distribution of sanplat slabs and polythene sheets for siding that will benefit some 9,000 people.

Distributions of contingency stocks (jerry cans, mosquito nets, soap) to 9,000 displaced persons, along with a range of hygiene promotion and sanitation activities.

ACF’s water, sanitation and hygiene programs provided more than 115,000 beneficiaries with access to clean water and improved sanitation during the month of July.